


Something like how I used to feel

by hayj



Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: F/M, Takes place after the comics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 07:42:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12249993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hayj/pseuds/hayj
Summary: Bass comes home. (Takes place after the comics.)





	Something like how I used to feel

When a knock sounded at her front door, Charlie raised a brow. Everyone in the village knew to come around to the back. Urging Michael to get his homework done so he could get started on his chores, she made her way to the front door.

 

Opening the door, she stood there in shock, the dish in her hand shattering on the tile.

 

Eyes watering, a hand flew to her mouth as she took him in. He was definitely older, but he still bore the same blue eyes of the man she had fallen in love with.

 

Uncovering her mouth, she reached out, drawing him into her arms. “You came back,” she whispered as he brought his arms up around her. Unable to help the smile that graced her mouth as his hands grazed over her ass, Charlie pressed her lips against the side of his exposed neck.

 

“Come in,” she said, the smile on her face softening at the uncertainty on his face. Closing the door behind him, she turned to discover he and Michael having a staring contest.

 

“Michael, say hello to your Uncle Bass.”

 

She watched her brother’s eyes go round with recognition. “The Uncle Bass?” he asked a bit breathlessly.

 

“The one and only,” Charlie replied, looking over at Bass with a wide smile, only to see his eyes go watery blue. “Get that homework done and then start on your chores,” she said sternly. “I’m going to take Bass out to see your Dad.”

 

“Yeah, okay,” Michael nodded, still a bit star struck as he turned back towards the kitchen.

 

“Let's go for a walk,” she said quietly, giving Bass’ hand a squeeze.

 

“He looks just like him at that age,” Bass replied as looked towards her.

 

“Come on,” she urged, bumping his shoulder.

 

Leaving the village, they walked a half mile or so down the road, stopping in front of a wooded field littered with numerous mounds of dirt.

 

“Oh, Charlie,” Bass breathed. “I’m too late.”

 

Squeezing his hand, Charlie led him down a well worn path to a grove of oak trees. There, protected by their branches, were two graves with neatly made wooden crosses.

 

“He waited for you,” she said, wiping at her eyes, the pain of his loss flaring up in her chest once again. “Every morning and every evening regardless of the weather, he’d stand out by the gate, watching the road for a while, before turning back.”

 

“His wife?” Bass asked with a tilt of his head at the grave clearly marked “Mary Matheson.”

 

Charlie nodded. “She was a good mother to Michael, but she refused to let me help after Miles died. She went hunting one day that winter and never came back. I think in a way she always blamed you and I for his death.”

 

“Me?” Bass scoffed, “I wasn’t even here.”

 

“I know, but with you gone I didn’t have anyone else. Here,” she said, digging around in her pocket before holding her hand out.

 

Turning his hand over, he felt her place something cool and metal in his palm. “He made me promise to give these to you when you finally showed up.”

 

“I thought I’d lost these,” he whispered, looking between her and the dog tags.

 

“He loved you, Bass. He loved you more than any of us, and he forgave you a long time ago. We both did”

 

Giving him a moment, Charlie turned back towards the village. When he finally joined her, she turned towards him. “It’ll be dinner time soon. Would you like to join us? I mean that is if you're not with someone or have somewhere you need to be,” she babbled, scuffing the toe of her boot in the dirt as she talked to him, much like she did ten years ago before everything had gone to hell.

 

“Charlie,” Bass replied gently, raising a hand up to her face, “I came back for both of you.”

 

Charlie raised her own hand, wiping away one of his tears with her thumb. “Come on then, the evenings are starting to get cool.”

* * *

 

Leading him back to the house they stopped by the pump, filling up all the buckets of water and hauling them inside the house, setting them just inside the back door.

 

“Not a bath,” Michael whined, “we just took baths last night.”

 

“That’s right we did, but Bass didn’t and he’s been on the road for a while, so quit your fussing and put some extra wood on the fire so we can get this water heated.”

 

“Are you going to stay for a while, Uncle Bass?” the boy asked, looking between him and his sister.

 

“As long as it’s okay with your sister, yeah, I’ll probably stay for a while,” Bass replied, surprised when the boy threw his arms around his waist.

 

“Oh, boy! Just wait till I tell the kids at school!” he exclaimed before turning towards the wood stove in the living room.

 

Charlie chuckled at the expression on Bass' face, smoothing a hand over his shoulder.

 

Taking a minute to throw a log in the cast iron stove in the kitchen, she lit an extra lamp and motioned Bass to follow her down the hall to a small bathroom. “The house is an A-frame so Miles was able to rig up a drainage system. All the bath water and dish water goes straight out to the garden during the spring and summer. In the winter we usually bathe in the kitchen so we don’t have so far to haul it out.” Leaving the lamp where it sat, she moved to a bedroom down the hall, lighting another lamp against the waning daylight. “This is my room. Michael has his own room and we use the other mostly for storage.”

 

Setting his pack by the door, Bass stepped over to the bed, sitting down as he began to unlace his boots. “Gonna be nice not to sleep on the ground tonight.”

 

Knowing that was his way of accepting her veiled offer, Charlie gave him a small smile as she headed towards the door. “I’ll go put the water on to heat. Some of Miles things are still in the bathroom. Help yourself to them if you can use them, if not, it’s probably time we threw them out anyway. Tomorrow, while Michaels at school, we can go through some of his clothes. If all of yours are in that same condition, you're going to need them.”

 

“You’ve grown up,” Bass blurted out, causing Charlie to chuckle. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” he backpedaled, not wanting to offend her. He was a worthless old man who had nowhere to go except to this woman whose life seemed to be intertwined with his.

 

“None of us are who we used to be, Bass.” She opened her mouth to say something else but changed her mind. Reaching out with her hand, she stroked her thumb over the wrinkles next to his eyes. “I’m glad you’re here.”

 

Leaving him where he sat, Charlie trailed out of the room, calling for Michael.

 

Sitting for a moment in his stocking feet, Bass listened to them rattle around in the kitchen, before unpacking his things. His clothes were all dirty and several items should probably be burned and put out of their misery just like Charlie had guessed, he thought as he dumped them on the floor near the door.

Once that was done, he took the time to look around the bedroom. It was typical farmhouse, with little to tell you about the people who lived here. He did, however, recognize the two swords hanging on the wall. He was just reaching up to touch the larger one when Michael appeared in the doorway.

 

“Uncle Bass! Your bath water is ready!”

 

“Thank you, Michael, I’ll be right there.”

 

The little boy turned and trotted back down the hallway.

 

He had just grabbed the cleanest of his dirty clothes, when Charlie appeared with a stack of clothes. “If you think you're getting into my bed after wearing those nasty, dirty clothes you are sorely mistaken,” she said taking the dirty ones away from him.

 

Bass chuckled, thinking of all the times they’ed shared a bedroll with two inches of road dirt between them, neither of them complaining about it then.

 

Setting the clean clothing on the bathroom counter, he helped with fetching the kettles from the living room and kitchen. Once they were in the tub, Charlie grabbed a bucket of cold water to add to the mix, setting it just inside the door. “Dinners in forty-five minutes,” she said, looking him up and down before shutting the door behind her.  

* * *

She was just setting the table, when he emerged. Not able to help herself, she walked over and ran a hand against his cheek. “I think I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen you clean shaven.” She let out a shaky breath. “Are you hungry? You look half starved.”

 

“I could eat,” he answered softly, catching her hand as she dropped it back to her side. “Thank you, Charlie.”

 

Charlie gave him a nod. “Take a seat.”

 

She finished setting the table and then brought several bowls over along with a platter of venison steaks. “Michael! Dinner's ready!”

 

She poured them all a glass of milk, carrying them to the table as the little boy came bounding into the room.

 

“Can I say grace tonight?” Michael asked his sister hopefully.

 

“Michael, you say grace every night,” Charlie replied patiently while holding out her hands. Michael eagerly took one while looking at Bass expectantly.

 

Charlie bowed her head in order to hide her smirk.

 

Clearing his throat, Bass glared at Charlie before reaching out to take their hands. Bowing his head along with the two of them, he squirmed in his seat as the boy began to speak.

 

“Dear God, please bless Mama, Daddy, and Charlie and thank you for bringing Uncle Bass back to us. I could also use help on my math test tomorrow if it’s not too much trouble. Amen.”

 

“Michael!” Charlie scolded as she raised her head, watching from the corner of her eye as Bass tried not to laugh. “Why am I just now hearing about a math test?”

 

“Sorry?” the little boy said with a tilt of his head and a shrug of his shoulders.

 

Bass had to run a hand across his mouth before he could take the bowl of carrots from Charlie.

 

“Uncle Bass,” Michael asked, “you knew my dad when he was my age, right?”

 

“Uh huh,” Bass replied as he cut his steak.

 

“Do I look like him?”

 

“Yes, yes you do,” Bass said slowly as he looked over at the boy who wore a wistful grin.

 

“Dad used to tell us all kinds of stories about you, didn’t he, Charlie.”

 

“Sure did,” she answered, keeping her eyes on her plate refusing to look at Bass.

 

“So, I think it’s only fair that you tell us some stories about my dad,” the boy said looking at the older man hopefully.

 

“Michael, no,” Charlie said, her head jerking up, as she looked between the two, “maybe tomorrow after Bass has had a chance to rest. You’ve never had to walk as far as he’s had to.”

 

Reaching out, Bass laid his hand on Charlie’s arm.

 

“I could probably manage a few stories after dinner,” he said, watching the boy's face light up in delight once again.

* * *

 

The boys sat in the living room after dinner as Charlie cleaned up, Bass telling stories of his and Miles’ youth as Michael listened rapturously.  

 

Eventually, when the old, wind up clock on the mantel place chimed the half-hour, Charlie sent Michael into brush his teeth and get ready for bed. After listening to him say his prayers, she tucked him into bed and blew out the lamp.

 

Moving back into the living room, she opened the hutch sitting in the corner, pulling out a bottle and two glasses. “This is the first time I’ve had a drink of this since he died,” she said, walking over to the couch, handing him a glass.

 

“Double malt?” He asked with a whistle as Charlie poured them each a shot.

 

“Bastard always did know where to find the good stuff.”

 

Tilting their glasses together they took a sip settling back on the couch.

 

“Is this their place?” Bass asked, looking around the living room that was littered with books, toys, knitting, and the everyday paraphernalia that made up life after the lights.

 

Charlie shook her head. “No, this place is mine.”

 

“Oh-I thought…” he trailed off, looking towards her.

 

“I moved out when they got married. It was better that way.”  

 

Bass gave a nod of understanding. “How old’s the boy?”

 

Charlie smiled, the light coming back into her eyes. “He just turned ten. I’ve had him for two years now. I know he misses them, though.”  

 

Bass swirled the liquid in his cup. “You look like you’ve done a good job. Miles would be proud.”

 

“Thanks, but we both know Miles would be laughing his ass off right now,” Charlie sighed.

 

Bass shook his head. “If he wasn’t able to raise Michael, I know he’d think you were the next best thing.”

 

“Well,” Charlie said, her voice thick as she finished off her drink, “I have to be up early in the morning. You coming?” she asked, throwing her thumb towards her bedroom, “or do you need some quiet time? I know he talked your ear off.”

 

“No, it felt good to talk about him,” Bass replied as he got to his feet, wrapping a hand around her waist. ‘And besides, I’ve got absolutely no reason to be sitting out here in the dark by myself.”

 

Charlie’s eyes sparkled in the firelight as they worked together to get the house put to bed.

 

Following her back to the room they would share, Bass pushed the door closed, leaving only a small gap. He turned, wondering why she had turned down the lamp and realized why.

 

Filtered moonlight shone in through the partially boarded up windows, the curtain's diaphanous material only enhancing her figure as she undressed on the other side of the bed. He stood, not moving for a few moments as he watched her disrobe, laying her clothes over a small rack in the corner and then pull on a gown that was nearly threadbare.

 

“Like what you see?” she asked, pulling her hair from the gown.

 

“Peace looks good on you,” he said, his voice turning husky,

 

“Mmm,” Charlie hummed as she turned to look at him. There was not an ounce of fat left on him and what muscle there was, lined him in its sinewy lengths. He was hunched over slightly as though the weight of the world rested on his shoulders and his alone. “Well, it looks like crap on you,” she said, turning down the quilts on the bed.

 

“Well, excuse me,” he grumbled, climbing into bed beside her.

 

Charlie smirked as she cuddled up next to him, inhaling deeply. “This feels familiar,” she said softly, draping her arm across his waist as his arm came up around her back.

 

“It does,” he whispered back as he pulled her closer, his hand slipping to her hip as she slipped her leg between his “God, we’ve wasted so much time,” he breathed softly into the darkness.

 

“The good news is that we don’t have to die as these people,” she replied, slipping her hand up to rest over his heart. “As long as these are still beating we still have a chance.”

 

“God,” he scoffed, “where did you learn to be so optimistic?”

 

“I’ve always been like this. I just forgot sometimes.”

 

“I know, I know,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to her temple. “You really think we can do this?”

 

“I know we can,” she replied softly, raising her lips to his.

 

“Together?”

 

“Together.”


End file.
